Drew Stoppels, who began the street fair tradition last year, joins us in studio with a preview of the event tomorrow as well as explaining the climate in West Michigan for LGBTQ rights.

Underwriting support from:

About Catalyst Radio

Catalyst Radio is the weekly public affairs radio program of Community Media Center, with producer and host Linda Gellasch, along with Denise Cheng. The program is a feature of WYCE and The Rapidian and includes interviews with organizations and people working on social change and community support, examines media and free speech issues, and takes a look at the behind-the-scenes of Rapidian reporting. You can catch it on air at noon every Friday on WYCE 88.1 FM or streaming on the Grand Rapids Community Media Center Website.

The Network, an LGBTQ resource in Grand Rapids, is having its second annual street fair/fundraiser tomorrow, complete with food, musical acts and even a fire juggling performance. Drew Stoppels, who began the street fair tradition last year, joins us in studio with a preview of the event tomorrow as well as explaining the climate in West Michigan for LGBTQ rights.

Music this week is by Rufus Wainwright with his famous song, "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" from the album, Poses.

ANALYSIS (0:00)

News Corps pulls bid under immense pressure following hacking scandalRupert Murdoch's News Corps was poised to take over major British broadcaster BSkyB when news broke that one of News Corps' tabloid subsidiaries, News of the World had been engaging in unethical reporting tactics. Among them the most controversial were signing off bribes to law enforcement officials and hacking into phone conversations and voicemails of celebrities and crime victims.[More: LA Times 1, LA Times 2, BBC]

Development in iPhone software could lead to kill switch for camera phonesJustifying that copyrighted performances and materials should be protected, iPhone is currently developing code for their iPhone operating software that senses when the smartphone's camera is recording a live event and shuts it down.[More: Daily Mail, The Huffington Post]

Hot Coffee documentary presents another media representation of frivolous law suitIn the 1990s, a woman sued McDonald's for being scalded by a cup of coffee she bought from the eatery. The incident was simplified and presented in media, and the general public felt it to be a frivolous law suit. New documentary Hot Coffee looks at how media portrayed the incident and uncovers that McDonald's was repeatedly informed of the excessive temperature of their coffee, this was not an isolated incident and that the woman was actually in grave health condition following the incident.[More: Allen & Allen Law Blog, The Inquisitr, The Daily Beast]

Virtual pop star throws first concert in the U.S.Miku Hatsune, a virtual avatar projected to life size, recently pranced on stage in Los Angeles in front of 4,000 fans. Miku was created by Yamaha seven years ago as a voice option in a music synthesizer software. A few years later, another company paired an avatar with the voice but did not copyright it, leading to the character becoming viral and thousands of fans creating their own music videos.[More: MIT Center for Civic Media]

CALENDAR (27:15)

Wine and cheese event at The Network6 p.m. at The Network (345 Atlas SE)As a preamble event to the Network Neighborhood Bash tomorrow, The Network is inviting friends and neighbors to its facility for a wine and cheese night to meet other LGBTQ allies in Grand Rapids. The event is free, and dress nicely.[More]

Creative community event poses first artistic challenge7 p.m. on Saturday, July 16 at The Division Avenue Arts Collective (115 S. Division)Peep, a creative community based event, is having their first monthly show. The creative theme of each month will be different, and Saturday's is based around the creation of art made completely from national geographic magazines in a collage format.[More]

Documentary examining how television portrays America's working classOn Thursday, July 21 at 7 p.m., The Bloom Collective is screening "Class Dismissed," which examines how the working class has been depicted on television.[More]

The Rapidian at Fulton Street Farmers MarketNext Friday morning, The Rapidian will be hanging out at the Fulton Street Farmers Market steering the coffee cart. Come out and meet us!

The Rapidian, a program of the 501(c)3 nonprofit Community Media Center, relies on the community’s support to help cover the cost of training reporters and publishing content.

We need your help.

If each of our readers and content creators who values this community platform help support its creation and maintenance, The Rapidian can continue to educate and facilitate a conversation around issues for years to come.

Comments, like all content, are held to The Rapidian standards of civility and open identity as outlined in our Terms of Use and Values Statement. We reserve the right to remove any content that does not hold to these standards.